Re: Thoughts on this year's Winter WarThis event was AMAZING! Winter War was the culmination of a lot of dedication of many of our players (Specifically Laskiel, Cordane, Meager and Deakon) making an effort to go to events and get to know people building Canaur a great reputation.

The Team work and dedication the Thomorians displayed gained us recognition on the battlefield as well. This is the first time Canaur has showed up in force, and other groups noticed the difference. Also this is the first time a member of Canaur has helped herald at a large event (any event other than flamewake) Thank you Arkas for helping Canaur's image with your willingness to help out.

Some things we can learn from this: People love creative scenarios and story battle. There were a lot of fighters complaining about the lack of story this year as opposed to last. When we plan our events we would do well to note that other realms can tell when you've put a lot of thought into planning battles and when you haven't

One thing I didn't like that I think really needs to change; our attitude toward other groups. Talking badly about other groups is a great way to ruin everything we have worked hard to achieve. Canaur should maintain a positive attitude toward other units/realms Being willing to make friends with just about everyone is what gained us recognition, lets not go back on that. (Yes I know I am just a guilty of doing this as anyone else, maybe more so)

Re: Thoughts on this year's Winter WarWinter War was great. Though there weren't a lot of story battles, the pick-up fights and the ones that Kneefers organized were a lot of fun. It was an amazing feeling when Canaur was divided up into its own team and was deemed a big enough threat that both of the enemy teams sought us out on the battlefield first. Excellent fighting on everyone's part!

Some of the things that I really liked about our campsite this year was the amount of space we had in between tents for the fire. Last Ides we were pretty cramped and the fire was awfully close to some of the tents. I'm glad to see that we're taking more safety precautions as far as the campsite layout and fires are concerned. I also enjoyed that we kept up a friendly, welcoming atmosphere, so much so that some of our guests preferred to be at our camp over their own due to our drama-free environment. Keep it up guys

Not only did we have a drama-free campsite, but we did a great job at not stirring up drama on the field. I saw great honor all around and I was proud to fight with everyone in the realm. We really made a name for ourselves at this event, and I hope we can continue to live up to and build onto it as our presence continues to grow from event to event. (Let's hit the 30 milestone for Ides!)

As far as things that I didn't like too much, I should echo Shogun; bad mouthing other groups is a sure-fire way to be "that realm" that no one likes and gets bad mouthed in response. At events like these on the national level, people need to be prepared to have people call them out on their lighter shots or hit hard with a red (Conversely, you'll also come across fighters who would look like Space Marines with all their ego armor on and people that hit too lightly). We shouldn't get in the habit of talking bad about people, let alone entire chapters, just because of a few encounters we may have had on the battlefield.

Another thing I wasn't too pleased about was some of the alcohol intakes that people had. While I may not drink or be opposed to some underage drinking, I do not think it is good for our realm or our image/reputation to have people stumbling around other people's camps making a fool of themselves. Also, the underage intoxication needs to stop. I don't care if people have a few drinks over the course of the night, but you need to stop before you become a liability to Canaur, the event staff, or the owners of the property. Not only is it a burden on those that are sober/less intoxicated, but it can also really mess up your event. I was hoping that the stories about last Ides would be enough to dissuade people from making the same mistakes, but I guess I'll just have to put my foot down on the issue for next Ides.

Another important thing that we should remember for Ides is to make sure that everyone brings a case of water and a bundle of firewood. Being the only camp on the side of the site that we were, we were able to easily forage for wood to help keep our supplies up, but when March rolls around and we go to en event with 200+ more people, a neighboring camp, and more people in our own camp than we had this time, we won't be able to keep our wood supply up. Also, we were lucky for this event, but we might not be lucky for the next, there's always the chance of rain ruining all of the wood that we would have to forage. If you can't afford to buy a 5 dollar bundle of wood, and a 3-4 dollar case of water in addition to your event fee, gas contributions, and food expenses, you should really consider whether you can afford to go to an event or not.

In addition to bringing our own dry firewood, we should also remember to be safe when finding, foraging, collecting, chopping, and moving any and all wood. DO NOT go out at night time to do anything other than foraging. DO NOT do any kind of wood chopping in the dark unless you have a sufficient amount of light to let you see what you're doing, and even then, only do it at camp where people can respond immediately to any types of injuries. We don't want what happened to Gabe to happen to anyone else again.

Some of the things I think we can do as a realm to improve our next Ides/Winter War would be to do a communal food/water/supplies effort (if everyone pitches in 25-30* dollars, we'll all be eating well, plenty hydrated, and really warm around a nice big fire). We should also try to better organize the carpool situations so that we better utilize the space available to us. I'd also like to try and arrange our campsite to give it a little bit more definition than we had this time around. While it was a big improvement from Ides, as we get more people, we're going to need to follow some sort of pattern to arrange our camp as efficiently as possible.

(* = Guesstimated value subject to change pending a more thorough examination of costs by the Treasurer)

Summary:

Good: Fighting, presence, camaraderie, friendliness, campsite layout.

Bad: Amount of water we brought, amount of wood we brought and corresponding issues, bad-mouthing.

Re: Thoughts on this year's Winter WarThe trip it's self wasn't unpleasant, everyone had a great time, these are just things that we should work on as a group so that we convey a positive image to other groups.

When we were getting our asses handed to us by fighters better than us people (myself included) got frustrated. Specifically when those groups were calling light on our hits. We did not take this gracefully. Also we got stood up for a party like a slutty 16 year old on prom night and whined about it for a good bit.

We had plenty of gear, people brought what they needed from community a head of time and stuck with using that. Only problem we had was our Javelins failed for flex

Re: Thoughts on this year's Winter WarYeah, I think our group isn't the best about hitting hard on a consistent basis. Remember that, even if you take light hits, you should STILL be hitting hard, and not expecting others to take hits that don't land with sufficient force.

Glad the weapons supply is deep enough for everyone! Lots of people deserve thanks for that, especially Shogun for hosting the building sessions last spring.